As Much As I Ever Could
by SoManyUpsAndDowns
Summary: It was a routine trip. Out at sea for the week, and then back by Sunday. Neither Sora nor Kairi thought much of it. That is, until Kairi turned on the news. Romance is only slight. AU.


As Much As I Ever Could

"I'll be back soon, I promise." The young man hugged the redhead in front of him reassuringly. Her violet eyes were covered as a strong gust of wind blew. She fidgeted with the engagement ring on her finger and smiled at him.

"That won't stop me from missing you." The man's blue eyes lit up and he swung her around in another hug.

"Sora, let's go!" the voice sounded from behind them. The man, only a year older than the other two swayed with the fair sized fishing boat. Two other deck hands joined him and leaned over the rail.

"Yeah, let's go Sora. We've only been waiting for _an hour._" One of the men called.

"Riku, Tidus, shut up." Sora called, playfully scowling. The woman kissed Sora on the cheek before picking up a suitcase of clothes and handing it to him. Sora smiled and turned to get on the boat. Tidus, Riku, and the third man cheered, only to be brought back down when Kairi called Sora back.

"Yeah?" He asked. Reaching into her pocket, Kairi pulled out a little ring of seashells.

"Almost forgot." She mumbled, putting the shells around his neck. Sora chuckled and hugged his fiancée on more time.

"Thank you, but I gotta go. The kids are getting restless." Kairi joined in his laughter as he climbed on board the _High wind._

"Jeez man, took ya' long enough!" Wakka exclaimed, throwing his favorite Blitz ball in the air.

"Shut up." Sora smiled moving to the cabin where four relatively small beds resided. Dumping his stuff on the floor, lay down on a bed and waited for the currents to bring them to deep waters.

* * *

Kairi watched till the ship was too far to see, and turned back to town. She had been the only one to wish the four childhood friends luck on their fishing trip, so the beaches were deserted, save Kairi and an elderly couple watching the sunset.

'_Sora and I will be like that one day.'_ She thought pleasantly, twisting the ring around her finger. About half way back to her home, a white-blond toddler waddled outside a white picket fence.

"Auntie Kai!" She shrieked happily, hugging the redhead's legs. Laughing, Kairi bent down.

"Hey Emma, where's your Mom and Dad?"

"Mommy and Daddy are inside with Ven." she replied. Picking the young girl up, Kairi walked into the house.

"Knock Knock!" a young man poked his head through the door way that lead to a kitchen.

"Hey Kairi, Namine is up stairs." He greeted. Setting the tot down, Kairi smiled.

"Thanks Roxas!" she called, skipping up the small stair case. The sound of Roxas scolding the young girl for wondering faded as Kairi turned into an open room that held the last two blonds.

"Hey Namine. Hi Ven."

"Hey Kairi! They greeted. Pairs of unmatched socks where strewn in front of the mother and son.

"Has Sora already left?" Namine asked, grabbing two and matching them together. The five year old boy watched as she did so, pointing out random socks ever so often.

"Yeah, I was on my way home when Emma wondered up to me, so I thought 'Hey, why don't I check on my favorite sister?'"

"Ha ha, Kairi, I'm your _only_ sister."

"Exactly." The two laughed for a moment before continuing.

"So how long are they fishing for again?" The older one asked.

"Just a week. Wakka has a Blitzball game next week."

"Ahh." There was a moment of silence before Kairi spoke.

"Well, I had better get going. Sophie said that she would go to the movies with me later."

"Alright, see ya Kairi!" Namine responded, getting up to hug her younger sister.

"You too. Bye Ven!" The little boy waved and Kairi was out the door and down the street in a few minutes.

* * *

A few days later

* * *

The three fishermen grunted as they pulled on a single fishing line.

_SNAP_

The line broke, causing them to stumble backwards. There were a few moments of frustration before laughter filled the air.

"Man, we've been out here for three days and only caught five fish!" Tidus exclaimed, getting up first.

"That's okay; we still have two more days." Sora added.

"If Roxas were here, we would have so many fish right now." Wakka said, rubbing his back where he had fallen.

"Well Roxas was working all week at the Ice Cream Shop, so ha!" Sora yelled, sticking out his tongue.

"Guys, stop fighting!" Riku called from a window, his hands never leaving the ship's steering wheel. The three men looked up the window where their silver-haired friend was shaking his head.

"Sorry!" They waved, going back under the cabins.

"Hey, will someone turn the T.V. on?" Tidus asked, flopping onto his bed. Wakka set down his Blitz ball and did so, turning to the weather channel. The host moved his hands over a map of their home, Destiny Islands and pointed to the sunny icons.

"_Our predictions suggest that the temperature will be in the 80's and sunny for the rest of the week."_

"Looks like weather will be good for that game, Wakka." Tidus commented, picking up a towel to use for swimming.

"Yeah man, it'll be beautiful…Hey Sora, you comin'?" Wakka asked, standing in the doorway with his other friend. Sora thought for a moment before responding.

"No, I think that I'll chill in here for a little bit." The two mumbled 'okay' before heading to the steering room to ask Riku if he could anchor the ship. As soon as they left, Sora reached into this flannel shirt pocket and pulled out a picture. In it; Sora, Kairi, her sister Namine, and her husband Roxas smiled outside of a local mall. Though the couple were both five years older than Sora and Kairi, they had all became close when Namine started dating Roxas. They were seniors in high school while Kairi and Sora were in eighth grade. Sora laughed as he remembered all the crazy things they had done. Well, that _he_ had done while they watched and told him it was a bad idea. Well, one of those ideas involved a broken arm, but hey, it happens. He felt the ship jolt into a halt and closed his eyes, listening to the laughter of his friends as they cannon-balled into the salty water.

* * *

_BOOM!_

"Ahh!" The unforgiving floor came in contact with Sora's back as he fell. He lay there for a moment before immediately sitting up, eyes directed to the window. The once beautiful skies were now gray and raging. Shouts were heard from the deck and he rushed to the door, only to be thrown into the wall by a vicious wave on the way. Finally throwing the door open, he was instantly bombarded with abusive rain. Sora barely made out the shape of Tidus scurrying across the deck.

Squinting against the rain, Sora grabbed a life jacket before shrinking back as the angry rain hit his back. A wave hit the side of the ship, and he stumbled a bit, almost losing his balance.

"Sora, get that life jacket on and help me with some of these sails!" Tidus shouted.

"Hold on," he shouted back, standing for a moment to put his arms through the brightly colored device.

"SORA!" The friend screamed, reaching out for him as another wave tipped the ship to the left. Gliding backwards on the slippery surface, Sora held onto the lift jacket with the one arm that was through the sleeve, and struggled for balance with the one that was free. Two of the friends in the steering room watched in vain as the spiky brunette hit the rails and disappeared. Then, as Tidus scrambled to where he had once stood and leaned over them in search of the friend. From his view, he could see the empty neon vest float obediently to the surface, standing out against the black and gray of everything around it. A faint gasp was heard as his friend came up, fighting against the water to get to the floating object.

"HOLD ON!" Tidus yelled running back into the cabin as carefully as he could to grab a rope attached to an orange and white ring. Wakka appeared in the door way to help the frantic friend. Together, they braced as a third wave struck the ship, and made their way back to the rails. But by this time, the vest and their friend was out of sight. His name filled the night air, only to be killed by the sound of the over growing storm.

* * *

_RING_

_RING_

_RING_

Kairi rolled over, looking for her cell phone.

'_Who would be calling this early?'_ She asked herself, pressing the button with a green telephone facing north.

"Hello?" She asked rubbing her eyes and setting her book aside.

"Kairi? It's Namine. Did you watch the news this morning? They reported the damages from that freak storm last night. There's… something you might need to know." Namine spoke into the phone uneasily. Confused, Kairi moved from her bed and down the staircase.

"No, I'm checking my recordings right now."

"Hey, I'm on my way over, okay?"

"Sure" The conversation ended and Kairi picked up the remote for the television.

Flipping through her recordings, she clicked on the one labeled as her local news channel.

"_Reporting about the surprise storm from last night, I'm Autumn Elliot"_

"_And I'm Billy Ronald."_ The screen flashed to a serious looking man and woman before changing to a panning shot of the Destiny Islands shore line. The tide has risen, trash and what not floating in it. Gasping slightly, Kairi continued to watch.

"_We have the coast-guard radio conversation with a ship that was off shore at the time."_ The view changed to a blue background with a rectangular box. In white letters 'Coast-Guard alternated with a shocking name, depending on who was talking. A picture of a tall man with silver hair stood next to the white text.

"_This is High Wind, come in, come in!"_

"_Go ahead, High Wind."_

"_We have a man over board, I repeat; we have a man over board."_

"_Sir is the man visible?"_

"_No, I have two of my friends looking right now,"_

"_Alright, we're on our way with the chopper. Do you have the man's description?"_

"_Spiked brown hair, blue eyes, fairly tan. He has a bright orange live jacket on, but I don't know how much it will help him in these waves. One of my friends reported that he, his name is Sora, went under the water once before actually putting the jacket on."_

"_Got it, we advise you all to stay as calm as you can."_

Kairi felt herself go numb as she stared blankly at the screen in front of her. The picture was cut back to the reporters.

"_This call was made at 8:00 last night. The young man, Sora is still nowhere to be seen. If you would like to join the search parties for him or you have any information please, contact the number below."_ A picture of Sora in high school cap a gown lingered on the TV, his smile somehow taunting to Kairi. There were a few minutes of shocked silence filled the house before sobs echoed.

* * *

24 hours later

* * *

A cough erupted from the dehydrated brunette as he closed his eyes against the unforgiving sun. The only sounds were the clashing of waves and his quiet heartbeat.

'_How long have I been out here?'_ he wondered, hugging the life jacket to his chest, floating on his back.

'_Is anyone even looking for me?'_ His thoughts went to his fiancée again, and his negative thoughts vanished. She wouldn't give up on him. He pleaded in his mind that she would find him.

'_But what if they didn't?'_ Sora thought about the important people in his life. There was of course, Kairi. The love of his life. Riku, his best friend since 8th grade. Namine, Kairi's older sister who treated him just like a brother. There was Roxas, Namine's husband. Sora recalled the first time he's met the blonde. They weren't very fond of each other at first, getting into a first fight. That lead to the detention they'd both had to serve, during which time the two had gotten to know each other. The list continued as Sora closed his eyes and floated through the ocean. Eventually the light changed slowly from a blinding white to an easy orange. Opening his eyes once again, Sora watched as the sky darkened as the sun set, cowering behind the horizon line.

Closing his eyes once more, he let his exhaustion take over.

* * *

The darkness of the early night was breeched as a light shone over the water, eventually landing on a limply floating figure.

* * *

A grieving Kairi sat at her sister's kitchen table thinking. Namine walked to her and placed a fresh cup of coffee in front of her.

"It's okay Kairi, they'll find Sora soon." Namine comforted, rubbing the red-head's back.

"But what if they don't? It's a pretty large ocean and Riku talked to me over the phone and he says that he doesn't even know if Sora ever got the chance to pull his life jacket on." Kairi's voice cracked a bit, her face turning a pink color. Husband and wife glanced at each other from the doorways of the kitchen and TV room. Roxas cleared his through before speaking.

"Kairi, I haven't known Sora as long as you have, but he's a good kid. And from my experiences, he doesn't break his promises." After his little bit, Roxas walked into the living room where his kids lay sleeping on the couch.

"Yeah, didn't you say he said that he always promises he'd come back? I'm sure-"Before Namine could finish, Roxas shouted from the other room.

"Look!" The young women joined him in the TV room and watched the news title sequence.

"_This just in, the missing fisherman, Sora Hikari has been found. His condition is critical and he's currently being air lifted to the South Destiny Islands Hospital .More on this story next."_

The image cut to an air shot zooming in on another helicopter on top of a flat-roofed building. Paramedics pulled a stretcher out of the metal fortress, the victim's brown spikes seen from the great distance. Namine and Roxas exchanged a look before waking their slumbering children. By the time the kids even opened their eyes, Kairi already out the door, turning on her small car and racing to the hospital.

* * *

**Author's Note: o hai thurr. Ha ha ha. Okay, so this is my first officially published story here on FanFiction.I don't know how many of you listen to City and Colour, but for those of you do, you'd know that the title and inspiration for this story come from the song 'As Much As I Ever Could'. More specifically:**

**_Lost at sea, my beat was growing weak_**

**_Hoping you'd hear my plea, and come save my life_**

**_As the storm grew fierce, and danger was certainly near_**

**_I knew there was nothing to fear_**

**_So yeah. And for those of you who might be wondering, this isn't the last chapter. There will be one more about Sora's outcome.  
_**


End file.
